My wifes’ 2003 durango is in the dealership now with a blown head gasket, 93,000 miles. Cost to repair – $ 1,800.00. If the heads are cracked cost will go to $ 3,450.00 to repair.

If this is such a common problem why has Dodge not been required to extend the warranty!!! No more Dodge products at this house, my 2002 dodge truck had same problem!

Many Dodge and Chryslers are sludge producing, go to carcomplaints.com and read their nightmares. I do not like to work on them and if customer calls with a broken timing belt or bearing noise, then I replace engine with Jasper engines, they improve their oil flow to the top of engine.

Engine overheated at 68,000 miles due to water pump failure. Found very poorly designed water pump with long out-bearing snout and plastic impeller. Outer bearing failure caused belt to slip causing problem. Rebuilt top end in a weekend for around $750. You can too. Just get the repair manual for torque and sequence when reassembing. You’ll need rebuilt heads ($550), head gasket set ($100), head bolt sets ($50) and more antifreeze oil filter and oil. You may need to replace plugs as well. Can be done in the driveway in a weekend, though. This engine is not difficult to work on. You can practically stand between the rediator and engine (on the ground) once you remove the fan shroud and fan. Head jobs are mandatory on most of these 4.7’s between 50,000 and 100,000 miles. Has to do with aluminum heads and iron/alloy block as well as lack of tolerability to any overheating.

I have 2002 Durango. Same problem, doing the head gaskets. 142,000 miles. Just ordered the service manual. Glad to see you can do it with out pulling the motor. Mine was strange after running for about 20-30 mins exhaust would leak into coolant system and blow all of the coolant out of the overflow.

I have a 2007 dodge ram with this same problem, unfortunately they say the engine got hot enough to need both heads replaced. I havent heard back from the warranty adjuster yet on whether it will be covered, but I havent slept hardly a wink yet just thinking of the posibility that I will be out the cost of this repair. What upsets me the most after reading this article is that I had to go to two different dodge dealerships to get this diagnosed properly.

I had a blown head gasket on my 00 jeep grand due to a cracked thermostat housing around 173,000 miles. I took the heads off and dropped them off at Tico Racing Engines Jerome MI. Tico said most 4.7 he’s seen have been sludge engines. My heads were really clean. I’ve had a aftermarket cold air intake on the jeep for at least 100,000 miles and drive a good distance in it every day which may help with the pcv getting rid of water vapor in the engine and not building up sludge. I routinely change my oil every 4000-4500 miles. Tico shaved 6 thousandths off the heads, checked them over, cleaned them up, and installed new valves for a great price 255$. The gasket kit was 140$ and new head bolts 85$. I had some lash adjuster tick so I replaced the stock lash adjusters with some solid lash adjusters. Which were a pain to get adjusted. Broke the primary timing chain tensoner guide had to get a new one. Got it all back together and it runs like new. Thanks guys I saved lots of money and learned some things along the way.

I must say that I’m truly shocked to read about the troubles people have had with their 4.7 engines. I bought my 07 dakota with 4.7 engine new and it just turned 100k this week.
I do mostly highway driving, probably about 80-90 percent. My engine still runs as smoothly and quietly as the day i brought it home new.
I use mobil 1 oil, and change it every 6,000 miles during the summer, and every 4,000 during the winter. I use 5w30 instead of 5/20 like the factory calls for, because oil that thin makes me a bit nervous.
Maybe the fact that i use synthetic oil and that I drive mostly on the highway is the reason that I have not had problems?
I plan to shoot for 200k, I will let you know if I have any problems before then.

Dino, Refer to an automotive repair manual. Follow the steps for the job including torque specs and etc.

Matt, there’s only a few things that would cause it to burn oil. It could be from valve guides or piston rings. You don’t really have enough miles to make me think it’s from wear. Maybe too much clearance from the beginning. Another possibility would be from the PCV system. I’m sure they will figure it out, I understand how frustrating it is though. Good Luck

I have a 2004 Dakota. that’s been burning antifreeze. But when I pulled the spark plugs none of them were washed clean. I know its burning it because its not leaking externally and you can smell and see the white smoke out the exhaust. Why are none of the plugs washed clean?

ok thank you ill try that tonight.

Continuing to drive while the engine is overheating along with white smoke out of the tail pipe, indicates a blown head gasket. You can pull the plugs and pressurize the cooling system and see which cylinders are affected, but regardless I’d say a head gasket job is needed. Good Luck.

Missing if not from a mechanical reason is usually from spark plugs or a bad coil and sometimes from an injector or wiring. Since you had the rocker off maybe the spark plug for that cylinder is fouled.

An intake valve bent or not seating properly for whatever reason should affect you compression reading on that cylinder since it would not hold pressure. Misfire’s cause a code eventually. It takes a certain number of misfires before the code will be set and the light turns on. With some scan tools, especially on Ford you can see a misfire count before the parameter is reached to set the code. Good Luck.

Thanks for the purchase. The Win 3747-123 has been a very popular tool that takes the place of the Miller 8516A Rocker Arm Tool and the 8387 Valve Spring Compressor. As far as getting the driver’s side valve cover off; the brake power booster can be removed if necessary. Not sure if it needs to come off to allow more access. But as you can kinda see in one of the pictures above, I had it removed to gain easier access when doing the head gaskets. I did not take the brake lines loose from the power booster. I just unbolted the master cylinder and pulled it out of the way with the lines still connected as to not get air in the brake system. Then I removed the brake power booster from the vehicle completely. You may not need to do this but you have the option if needed.